A winter salad: Sicilian Fennel and Orange Salad
Even in the deepest coldest winter, I sometimes feel like having something fresh and raw to eat. Something to clean my taste buds and make me feel fit again for some hearty and rich winter food. This quick salad is ideal for the purpose. Crunchy fennel and fresh oranges combined together in a nice colourful salad.
The ingredients are:
- fennel, 1 bulb per person (at least) quartered and sliced thin
- oranges, ideally Sicilian blood oranges, peeled and either filleted (my choice) or sliced thinly in rounds
- optional: black olives, nuts (never tried pistachios but I think they would be great and better Sicilian!)
- a vinaigrette made with EVOO, salt, black pepper and one of vinegar, lemon juice or orange juice (I used the latter)
combine all solid ingredients together and dress with the vinaigrette. That's it, it doesn't get much easier. I added a bit of chopped fennel greens around the plate for colour and presentation.
This salad looks so fresh and delightful! I would probably blanch the fennel though, as raw fennel has a little too much aniseed sharpness for me...
Posted by:clotilde | February 22, 2004 at 09:44 PM
You could blanch the fennel, but you'd lose that lovely crunchiness. I find round bulbous fennels (which in Italy are called male bulbs, although sometimes female too :) ) often more gentle than the "flat" ones, which are better for cooking.
Posted by:Alberto | February 24, 2004 at 11:33 AM
Last week we made a big winter salad for a dinner with friends: it featured fennel and oranges, like yours, plus thinly sliced white cabbage (cavolo cappuccio), a green apple and toasted sesame seeds. (no olives, no nuts.) It was so good they wolfed it down to the last leaf, forgetting every prejudice about cabbage. of course this is quite far from the sicilian ortodoxy: oranges and seasoning (and maybe a few black olives).
Posted by:rose | February 24, 2004 at 11:55 AM
rose, your salad sounds great too, I find the sesame seeds idea fantastic. :-9 sesame!
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